Anya Kamenetz

Journalist and author Anya Kamenetz is a futurist with a passion for the complexities of how we learn, work, and live in a rapidly changing world. 

Anya was a longtime, award-winning correspondent at NPR coordinating education coverage online and on-air. Previously she covered technology, innovation, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship as a staff writer for Fast Company magazine. Her reporting—on technology, the cost of higher education, career development, the future of work, post-pandemic life, and many other topics—has appeared in a wide range of publications, including The Guardian, Medium, Muck Rack, New York Magazine, The New York Times, “O” the Oprah Magazine, Slate, The Village Voice, WIRED, and The Washington Post.

Kamenetz’s most recent book is The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children's Lives, and Where We Go Now. In it, she considers the pandemic’s impact on the lives of children and the burden on working parents trying to care for, help educate and keep children safe at home. With audiences, Kamenetz explores the long-term implications of the pandemic for schools, colleges, businesses, and employees. She also traces the many links between the pandemic, the “Great Resignation,” and the growing realization that building diverse, equitable and inclusive working environments is critical to economic growth and a resilient American workforce.

Kamenetz’s four previous books include her debut, Generation Debt, which received critical acclaim for stoking debate on the unprecedented economic challenges young people face. In 2010, she published DIY U, which looks at the promise and potential of technology and open-source education models for more affordable, personalized, and experience-based learning paths in higher education. The book, which prompted the Huffington Post to name her an “Game Changer in Education,” explored the intersection of meritocracy, race, and class, asking “how can we build a system that works for everybody?” Critics called her third book, The Test, a “must read” for anyone interested in our education system. It explored the past, present and future of standardized assessments and challenged conventional ideas about intelligence, achievement, and success. Her book The Art of Screen Time will change the way you think about digital natives and parenting in the digital age.

Kamenetz is a three-time winner of national awards from the Education Writers Association, and her digital education coverage at NPR won a 2017 Edward R. Murrow award for Innovation from the Radio Television Digital News Association.

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